And the Clock is Striking Twelve
by castiel in the tardis
Summary: She remembers great big galaxies, singing girls and supernovas. She remembers when she was Clara Oswald. And she is going to die.


**And the Clock is Striking Twelve**

**Summary: She remembers great big galaxies, singing girls and supernovas. She remembers when she was Clara Oswald. And she is going to die.**

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_They're crying, _she thinks to herself. _They're crying for me._ Every moment is excruciating, every breath like fire and every blink like ice. She's cold and warm and dead and alive all at the same. No one human could survive a fall like that.

No one human.

_That's right, _she thinks. _The Doctor. _A fleeting moment of pure, and unadulterated sadness. She was going to travel the galaxy. Clara Oswald and the Doctor, together on a magic blue box that could take her anywhere through time and space.

He even gave her the key.

_The key. _Squirming around, she tries to find it. For all she knows it's sitting in the palm of her hand, but she doesn't feel it. She can't. Clinging to her consciousness like a mountain climber to its harness, she squeezes.

Right, yes, the key. When did it get there?

A voice, sad and tired as the beginning of time. "We saved the world Clara, you and me. We really, really did." His face hovers just above hers, her vision too fogged to truly see his face. What she can see of him is the face of someone resigned.

Someone who is not allowing themselves to feel anything.

"Are you going back to your cloud?" She asks, hoping so hard that he'll _listen _to her, because she knows that the Doctor is more stubborn than a six year old boy. _How do I know that? _She wonders idly.

She'll never know though, she's dying, isn't she?

He shakes his head. "No more cloud. Not now." He pauses for a moment, and for that shining moment Clara feels like she saved the universe, because she managed to save the Doctor. _It's not the first time, _she thinks snarkily.

_What do I mean, not the first time? _She thinks. Why does she feel like she knows the Doctor, when she honestly really doesn't? "Why not?" She has to know. Before he can answer, her eyes close, the very attempt of keeping them open hurting her so much.

A small pause. "It rained."

And then all of a sudden, she remembers.

_I don't know where I am. It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember. I have to save the Doctor. Sometimes it's like I've lived a thousand lives in a thousand different places. I'm born. I live. I die. And always, there's the Doctor. He always looks different...but I always know it's him. Sometimes I think I'm everywhere at once, running just to find him. Just to save him. Always, I'm running to save the Doctor. Again and again and again. He never hears me, almost never. But I've always been there. Right from the very beginning, right from the day he started running. _

She remembers.

She remembers rain Sundays where she and her Mum would snuggle up under covers, eat chocolate souffles and watch the Sound of Music. She remembers tucking an old, crumpled leaf into an old magic book that she will always treasure.

She remembers great big galaxies, singing girls and supernovas. She remembers when she was Clara Oswald. And she is going to die. Mustering whatever she's got left, she whispers. "Run…" She feels a shift next to her.

So he did remember.

"Run you clever boy," she says softly, eyes opening to see the Doctor one last time. "And remember." She can see his face, torn, lined so very confused and so very scared. All she wants to do is tell him it's all going to be fine, that she's not even the real Clara.

The clock chimes Christmas morning, as the Doctor looks up, she closes her eyes one last time. She knows that she should be crying, that she should be fighting her hardest. But she doesn't, because she knows _chapter _in the the Doctor's life is over.

Sut she doesn't fear what's coming. Her story has only just begun.

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**A/N: Isn't it a funny coincidence that Victorian Clara died at 12:00 a.m? **

**Hope you enjoyed! **

**~castiel in the tardis **


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